Former Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier, who announced on Wednesday that he’s transferring to Miami, spoke with the Detroit Free Press about leaving Ann Arbor. Saying he “never wanted to leave,” Forcier believes Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon is ultimately the reason for his transfer.
“I felt like things could have been handled better. (Athletic director) Dave Brandon made his mind up. We tried hard (to stay). I took care of my incompletes. I needed a certain amount of credits. The incompletes, I took care of those. Dave Brandon still wouldn’t let me stay. He refused to even meet with us. That’s his decision; we really didn’t want to fight it. That was his decision, that’s the head guy. I didn’t want to challenge him. I’m not going to win something like that with somebody as high up as he was. When he did that, it was time to turn a new chapter."
However, Brandon denies Forcier’s account of the proceedings. In a separate story, he told the Freep (through associate athletic director Dave Ablauf) that Forcier and his family wanted to meet at a time when Brandon wasn’t available. (Maybe while Brandon was trying to hire a new head football coach?)
But Brandon wanted to reschedule and that message was relayed to the Forciers personally by assistant athletic director Brian Townsend. Yet the Forciers never followed up to schedule another meeting.
In his interview with the Freep’s Mark Snyder, Forcier also confirmed that he only visited Miami, making his decision to join the Hurricanes before checking out the other four schools on his list. Other topics discussed include his new coach, Al Golden, and a conversation he had with former Michigan quarterbacks coach Rod Smith.